Awwww

Got the sweetest phone call last night.

A little voice calling to ask me how to spell GrammyT. Then I'm informed that she likes her headband and that it fits and it will keep her ears warm and she doesn't have to write 'Thank You' because the card already says that part and she's getting so big she can almost wear mommy's shirts. Then she took a breath. Then she was in a 'Heart Walk' at school which is fun and the walk was in the gym and her partner in the walk was a little girl she didn't really know but she seemed really nice and they might be friends now and at different stations you could stop and jump rope if you wanted to and it was lots of fun. Second breath.

Whew, after you spend time talking to adults, it's a little hard to keep up with all that delivered in about 1 minute - but I'll do my darnedest as long as she wants to tell me what's going on in her world.

Just wondering...

I've been watching on the news about that picture some lady took on vacation and thought it might be the little missing girl in Europe. Within a couple of days with minimal information and a blurry picture, there were bunches of journalists converging on some family who happened to have a blonde daughter.

The part I wonder about is this. All these bloggers put up myriad pictures of their kids because they are proud that little 'Lucy'*and 'Skippy'* look so cute in their new outfit or whatever. Then, after they give out their kids' names, they proceed to tell you the name of the town they live in, where they shop on Tuesday afternoons, which park they take the children to for playtime, etc. Is it me, or is this just dangerous? There are strange people out there in the world, people. There are people that are harmful in their intent. It seems like it's being made too easy for these people to find these children if they stumble across the site where they are featured.....

Yeah, Yeah, I'm a worrywart. It's what I do. I do it often and well. I know I posted a picture of my grandchild to be a couple of weeks ago, but I'm relatively sure that nobody is going to recognize him/her from a picture taken when they were an 8 week fetus.

* Lucy and Skippy are our dogs names. Good luck dognapping them. One of them bites and the other is just a plain old pain in the ass.

An ending and beginning

Well, I finished the little headband thingy. I put a button on it 'cause we don't want to mess up the li'l girl's hair just pulling it on her head, plus really old buttons are cool looking. It looks curvy because I did that on purpose with some short rows on the front. I believe it will make it fit better (if it's big enough at all). She's growing and we live so far apart current measurements are a dream. Anyway, here it is. If anyone wants, I'll write the pattern out and you can have it.

For the beginning, I finally started a Clapotis. The photo doesn't show true colors, which are more of a slightly faded daffodil. The needle on this is a US#2 which means lots of extra repeats/rows which is going to make this a much more long term project than I had in mind. Thank goodness it's good reading/watching tv knitting.

Here's how it goes when you're making stuff up...

For whatever reason, it seems that 99% of the time I have a compulsion to figure out how to make things on my own rather than getting and/or using an existing pattern. Here's what it looks like when I'm figuring something out:

I like those little headband thingies that cover the ears. They're good for people who actually have hair. You know how dorky it looks with long hair hanging out of a hat, or even more special is long hair in a big bump inside the back of a hat. Our existing granddaughter has long hair. She's young enough that she's ok with the hat thing, but I wanted to try out a headband thingie for her. I'm doing it with Opal sock yarn in a cable pattern. The notebook's for writing down what I did (do) and when. Hopefully when I'm done, it will be small enough to fit her little head and be really cute with opposing cables. I'll probably put some short rows in to fit the curve of her head. If it works out as cute as it has the potential to, I'll post the pattern somewhere with a better picture. (I know my model needs a bath - she got into some mystery brown crap that doesn't seem to want to wipe off.)

And, yeah, I read while I knit. I decide what's going to happen on the row, write it down then read while my fingers do what I just wrote down. It doesn't work for lace or 'hairy' yarn or something that requires a lot of counting, but for your basics it's good.

Other people's cooking

What is it about someone else's cooking? Is it really better or just different?

When I first started to cook it was most certainly MUCH better than mine. Now I think it's just a nice, yummy change. Yesterday, for instance, my neighbors knew my husband was out of town and I'd be batchin' it for dinner, so she came over to get me when it was time for dinner. It was a very simple dinner of chili with rice and iced green tea. Mmmm mmmmm. Her chili is so good. It's similar to mine, but there are definite differences. We use different amounts of cumin, chili powder, onions, garlic, well shucks, just everything. They're both good, but for some reason hers was super good. The food was good, as was the tea.

I think it just boils down to someone taking the time to care if you were eating alone and including you as part of their family for dinner that makes everything so much better.

I Got Nothin' (much)

I knew playing on Ravelry was gonna be my downfall and I was right. It's way too much fun, but there was a little something accomplished:

It's not knitting, but still, they're pretty don't you think. It was a special order for one of my customers off the marker blog. Pretty setting, huh? The ole paper towels background..

There will be knitting content very soon. Unfortunately, the son is a Colts fan (we're Steelers fans here) so the baby to be will be getting a blue/white sweater, sigh. What's a grammy to do. That amuses me so much! The whole grammy thing is still new, but it will surely wear off eventually.

Ravelry!

I knew it! I just knew it! I'd gotten my invitation a long time ago, but didn't go look around. Everyone talks about spending a lot (too much) time there updating their stash, their projects, their planned projects. It sounded like one more thing to lose time on. Boy, was everyone right. I haven't put anything on there yet. Just looking around at different projects, groups, stashes. Before I knew it, it was time for bed....

I'll be back there for way too much time I'm sure, it's like being a kid in a candy store. Who could resist? If anyone wants to say hey, I'm TerriLynn in there, too. (The person who's looking at everything to the exclusion of putting her own stuff up.)

OK, one other thing. Grammy needs to get some yarn and such for baby things. Go check out my stitch markers and see if anything appeals to you!

Almost me

Incredibly witty and funny, you have a taste for irony in all that you see. It seems that life has put you in perpetually untenable situations, and your sense of humor is all that gets you through them. These experiences have also made you an ardent pacifist, though you present your message with tongue sewn into cheek. You could coin a phrase that replaces the word "paradox" for millions of people.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Well, except for the pacifist part. I grew up in the 'holler' school of "You mess with me or mine, I'll deck your ass" and some of that still lingers in here somewhere...

Enough of that already...

I know we're all excited about baby news, but 99.99% of everyone else in the world could care less, so I'll give it a break... ((dancin' again')) ((stop that!!))

The weather has taken a turn for the better. It was 53F here last night. Perfect sleeping weather to snug in. Apparently the dogs thought it was, too. Little monsters woke me up at 12:30 last night pinning me to the bed with the blanket so tight it actually hurt. Aaahhh, the joys of being loved. After I wiggled out of bed, it was easier to just go downstairs and curl up on the couch for a couple of hours.

Why was it easier??? Because Skippy, the chubby butt beagle, will pretend to be asleep when you try to get him off the bed. It's really funny in a twisted sort of way. He's laying there, you know he's awake (not snoring - he ALWAYS snores when he's really asleep), he knows you know he's awake. You act all stern, say "Skip Down!" and do the hand motion. He lays there with his eyes closed. You do it again, "Skip GET DOWN!" and do the hand motion along with finger snap. (Around here, the finger snap means business, y'all.) Little beagle eyes closed tight...

You try to pick him up off the bed. He's curled up in a tight, hard, ball that cannot be unwound. If you really get desperate, you can drag the whole dead weight (40+lbs) off the bed and try to catch it before it hits the floor....

Now you know why it's just easier to go to the couch... I'm too freakin lazy to lug a lump in the middle of the night while trying not to wake up the husband. I'll kill them all later. Right now I just need a nap

Can't Wait to Meet You

This is our grandchild that we'll be meeting in about seven months.

We are so excited and relieved and thankful for this baby. We were terribly worried that he/she wasn't going to make it this far.

This little one has a beautiful older sister who is, no doubt, going to conspire to make the parents life 'interesting' with her younger sibling. We've kind of hinted around at what we want her to call us, but the hints didn't really kick in, so, without further ado if our kids are reading this :

NOW, CAN WE GET CALLED GRAMMY & GRAMPY AROUND HERE????

(ummm does anyone else think those drawings of aliens look like 8 week fetuses?)

A Little Football A Little Knitting...

Yesterday was FOOTBALL!! Yeah, yeah, I know, but I gotta say I love Troy, Willie, Santonio, Alan, Casey and even like Big Ben. (I could name more, but surely you're bored or confused enough by now.)

I'll try to be back later with pictures of the 'Baby Pea Pod'. I've still got the final sleeve and some assembly to do. If you want to see some pictures, you can go look at my newest sets of markers on the other blog. See you later....

PEAPOD

The picture is fairly accurate for color, but the photographer is LOUSY! This was a really quick little knit.

My details on this one are:

Peapod Sweater from Knitting Daily.

I used US5 circular for the body & dpns for the sleeves. (I knit the sleeves in the round instead of flat to reduce seaming)

A little more than 1/2 skein of Opal sock yarn. (This is not what is called for in the pattern. I'd bought it to make a pair of socks and just held on to it and petted it for months because of the color. It's sort of a blue/lavender color. There are a million button possibilities to be determined by whether we get a grandson or granddaughter.)

Just a quick hit

My yarn got here!


I'd ordered some yarn for the Clapotis knit along that starts later this month. It arrived and looks just like the picture (which is really a bonus when you think about it!) The oddest thing was, the package included a set of double pointed needles. Oddest things ever. They are about a US size 2 and they're at least 12 inches long. They'll be great for hats!


(Umm... don't tell me that 12" dpns are as common as dirt. They're new to me and I want to enjoy the oddness of them for a bit.)

Just Doin' Stuff and Nothin'

Before I show off the knitting pictures, I gotta show you the husband's new work blog. He's moved operations and is now a loan officer at a different institution. They're providing him with a web space, but he was anxious to get a jump start. (Cute ain't he?)



My MS3 stole with lots of beads has been finished for a while. I sort of blocked it so I could take a picture. I'm sure if a decent photographer was around here, you could see all the little multi color sparkles throughout it. (Yeah, yeah, if frogs had wings on their rears, they wouldn't bump their butts when they jumped.) Anyway, here it is.



We were disappointed that the kids didn't get to come visit this weekend due to some health issues, BUT it probably worked out for the best since the refrigerator decided to punk out either late Friday night or early Saturday morning. (Where the heck can you find an appliance repair man on a holiday weekend?)

To keep busy, I started this;



It's the beginnings of a Peapod Baby Set from Knitting Daily. It actually won't be a set, because I won't make the hat, we all know this, so there's no point in lying.



I also made these:



I actually made something that matched! You've got to understand, I never knit matching items. I'll get tired of a pattern or a color or something and just move on to the next thing that catches my eye. When I was a kid they said, "She's got the attention span of a gnat!" It still applies.



I also did some stitch markers for the other place. You can go look at them here. Plus, there was some stuff being made sort of 'by request', that I needed to get a good start on. No pictures of that.



All in all, it was a nice holiday, where you quickly lose track of time.